


One Big Happy Family — *Mai*

by HufflepuffChildOfApollo



Series: One Big Happy Family [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Badass Mai (Avatar), Continuity What Continuity, F/M, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Friendly sparring matches, Gen, Post-100 Year War (Avatar TV), Sokka and Zuko are Siblings, Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffChildOfApollo/pseuds/HufflepuffChildOfApollo
Summary: It's incredibly puzzling how thesekidshave adopted her boyfriend.But if it makes Zuko happy, she's happy too.She isn't going to show it though.
Relationships: Mai & The Gaang, Mai/Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: One Big Happy Family [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799011
Comments: 64
Kudos: 1188





	One Big Happy Family — *Mai*

_"What are you doing?"_

Mai doesn't spare a glance for the guard, instead looking out at the gondola, paused on its cable halfway across the chasm. 

"Saving the jerk who dumped me."

She deals with the guards quickly, pinning them by their uniforms to the floor and walls, and all she has left to do is remove the metal bars jamming the cable winch; she gives the wheel a push, and the gondola's moving again. 

There are still guards left to fight. Mai knows Azula will be _furious._

But she doesn't really care. 

[‡] 

Mai glares at her reflection through bangs that have grown out past her eyes. Her cheeks are hollow after two weeks on meager rations in Fire Nation Prison No. 4. 

Ty Lee sits with the other girls from their cell block — a group of the warriors from Kyoshi Island — chatting away like she loves to do, while braiding each others' hair. 

The door opens. The guard says her name. 

Mai tenses up. 

"What?" she asks, in a carefully practiced monotone, turning around.

"The warden wants to see you immediately." The guard's face betrays nothing under her helmet, her lips set in a straight line. 

The other girls exchange worried looks. Ty Lee stares at Mai, fear in her eyes. 

"I'll go." Mai walks calmly to the door, despite the anxiety building in her. She pauses at the doorway to glance back. 

_'I'll be fine,'_ she mouths to Ty Lee. 

She follows the guard down the hall, wondering what the warden could want with _her._

_What did I do?_

[‡]

Mai's still trying to process that she's allowed to go free. What's happened to Azula? Zuko? She's heard rumors — nothing more — that Azula's dead, or imprisoned, or on the run. That _Zuko's_ dead, or soon to be crowned Firelord, or renouncing his title to juggle in the circus. Her parents won't discuss it in front of her — it's _not her place to know._ Which is stupid she's just as much a Fire Nation citizen as they are. 

One thing she knows: Ozai is no longer in power. His brother, Iroh, is currently handling foreign affairs until the heir takes the throne. 

If _Iroh's_ handling politics, and there _is_ a living heir, that points to Zuko being alive and soon to be crowned. Nobody else would put Iroh in charge, even temporarily (not that he's incompetent; Azula's just always regarded him as such). 

Mai picks up a pair of scissors, narrowing her eyes as she carefully snips two fingers' width from the ends of her bangs; just enough so that they don't hang in her eyes anymore. 

She'll figure it out. It's not like she's stupid. If she has to sneak into the palace herself to find out the state of things, she'll manage. 

[‡]

Zuko looks a little...bad. There are bags under his eyes, and heavy bandages on his chest and shoulders. 

But the way his eyes light up like fireworks at the sound of her voice, the _smile_ that breaks across his face when he sees her —

_He's okay._

Mai helps him put on his fancy, ornate Fire Lord robes, because as much as she wants to sit here and catch up, he has a ceremony to attend, and it's kind of important. They can catch up later. 

[‡]

The ceremony is...fitting. 

Zuko's speech is uplifting and hopeful. He looks happy, which Mai hasn't really seen in a long time.

After the ceremony, they meet up in the infirmary, where Zuko's still staying while his wound heals. They spend several minutes catching up — and then are interrupted by a small, dirty child who tackles Zuko to the bed. 

"Great job, Sparky! I didn't think you'd make it through the speech!" she says in her squeaky child-voice, punching Zuko _hard_ on the uninjured arm. Mai instinctively draws a knife — she recognizes this one from Ba Sing Se, and knows she's aggressive. Zuko, however, seems very calm about the whole ordeal. 

"Thanks, Toph," he says sarcastically, ruffling the girl's hair and sending up a cloud of dust. "Glad you had so much faith in me."

"Anytime, Sparky." The child flops down on the bed. "Who's the one with the knife?"

"That's Mai," Zuko says. Mai's confused for a second — doesn't the kid _recognize_ her? Even if they've never spoke, the kid's _seen_ her before —

Then she notices how her eyes aren't directed toward Zuko as she speaks, staring at the ceiling instead — and it's then Mai notices her large eyes are an unnaturally light shade of green. Mai recalls her father's stepsister, whose eyes are so pale gold they're almost white. She makes the connection almost immediately.

_She's blind._

_But then how does she know I have a knife? How does she know I'm here at all? I've been quiet since she came in. How does she **fight**_ _so well? Aunt Akemi was able to navigate a house, with practice, but no way could she fight someone as well as this kid can._

Before she can follow her train of thought much further, the doors burst open again — this time to reveal the two Water Tribe siblings, a girl Mai's pretty sure is one of the Kyoshi Warriors, and the Avatar himself. strolling in behind all of them, with a large tea tray, is Uncle Iroh. 

"Zuko! Congratulations!" Water Tribe Boy shouts, sprinting across the room to wrap his arm around Zuko's neck, dragging his knuckles back and forth on Zuko's head.

"Ow — Sokka. I told you not to do that." Zuko pulls himself out of the boy's grip, rubbing his head with a grimace. His topknot's come loose, his headpiece dangerously close to falling out of his hair. 

"Sokka," Water Tribe Girl admonishes, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Zuko. "Your speech went really well," she adds, smiling. 

"Thanks." Zuko smiles, hugging her. Mai is now a little beyond confused; she's known that Zuko's _with_ these kids, but that didn't necessarily mean he's _friends_ with them. Now, though, she can plainly see that is the case. 

The Avatar approaches last, after Iroh's praised him for his speech and settled down to pour some tea. He just smiles widely, giving Zuko a pat on the shoulder before sitting down and accepting a cup of tea from Iroh. 

"Sparky," the small dirt child says once Zuko's seated on his bed, flopping across his lap. She keeps her feet on the floor, for some reason, which doesn't look comfortable to Mai, who's still standing next to the bed. 

"Yes?" Zuko says casually, like this is normal. Like he's used to children climbing on him and getting dirt on his robes. 

"Is the Mai over there the same Mai who tried to kill us with Azula?" 

Zuko flinches microscopically. 

"Um...sort of."

"It is!" Dirt Girl sits up, and narrows her eyes in Mai's general direction. "What's she doing here?"

"She's Zuko's girlfriend," Sokka says, lifting his head from Kyoshi Girl's shoulder. "

"You have a _girlfriend?"_ Dirt Girl asks, as if she can't even fathom the thought. "And you didn't _tell_ me about it? I thought we were friends!"

Zuko sighs. "I di— she's — we broke up, okay?"

" _So?"_ The dirt child — Mai will have to ask her name later — sounds positively outraged by Zuko not telling her about every facet of his life. "You never said you dated _her!_ Or _anyone_ for that matter!"

"My love life wasn't important up until now!" he fires back, gesturing wildly. We were in the middle of a _war,_ remember? Tight schedule, not a lot of time for chatting."

While Dirt Child continues the argument, Mai gravitates toward Kyoshi Girl, who from Mai's observation is the only sane one in this group (besides Zuko, of course, and even that's a stretch). 

"Hey, you're Ty Lee's friend, right?" Kyoshi Girl (isn't her name Suki or something?) asks, smiling widely. 

"Yeah," Mai replies. "Why?" 

She shrugs. "Just wondering. Ty Lee's pretty good at her chi-blocking thing, I figured you might...?"

"I throw knives. Close-up fighting's not really my thing." 

"Huh." Suki nods, leaning on Water Tribe Boy. "I've never really done that, but it could be worth learning."

Mai fights the urge to roll her eyes, and just nods, leaning against the bedpost and looking at Zuko. 

He looks...so... _happy. Happy,_ with the Dirt Child clinging to his arm, and Water Tribe Girl doing her water thing over his lightning wound (which...might be weird. Mai might have to ask about that too), and the Avatar talking his ear off now about who knows what, tea spilling out of his cup onto Zuko's robes as he gesticulates wildly with his speech. 

Mai couldn't help a small smile as she watched the spectacle. 

[‡]

It's only a couple weeks into Zuko's reign as Fire Lord when he writes to Mai, telling her to come over as soon as humanly possible. She's annoyed at first when the royal messenger bangs on the front door in the dead of night, but then she reads the letter, and her annoyance is replaced with a burning fury. 

She races across the street to the palace, barging through the front gates; the guards recognize her, and don't bat an eye. The front doors are infuriatingly unguarded, and Mai's fury grows as she runs through the empty halls to Zuko's chamber. 

There are about ten guards outside Zuko's chamber, and she knows most of them are supposed to be guarding the front door. She pushes past them too easily and quickly walks inside. 

Zuko's sat on the edge of his bed, shaking. He glances up when Mai sits beside him, fear in his eyes. His hand grips hers like a snake wrapped around a mouse. He lays his head on her shoulder and she lets him stay that way while the royal physician dresses the knife wound on his shoulder; the only mark the would-be assassin managed to make. 

The next day he writes an order firing almost all of the guards. Two days later the Kyoshi Warriors arrive, and he makes the order official, replacing the guards with the expert warriors. Mai sleeps a little easier after that; she hopes Zuko does too. 

[‡]

The Kyoshi Warriors are some of, if not _the_ best guards Mai's ever seen. Not a single assassin has managed to breach the walls since they took their posts (well, not a single one made it to Zuko's room, at least). 

Zuko still has night terrors, Ty Lee tells her. About his father, and Azula, and the attempted assassinations. 

When Mai stays, he sleeps like a hibernating platypus-bear (though thankfully without as much snoring). 

Then his Avatar friends visit, and he hardly sleeps at all because they're up all night talking and roasting mallow-fruit over fires conjured by Zuko and Aang. Zuko invites Mai over and she ends up just as sleep-deprived as everyone else, but once the younger kids have fallen asleep, and Suki and Sokka are curled up in a corner competing to see who can fit more mallow-fruits into their mouths, Zuko and Mai are finally able to settle down and sleep. 

She's woken up in the morning by a foot digging into her side. She rolls over to tell Zuko to move it, but finds instead ~~the dirt child~~ Toph, snuggled up with Mai's boyfriend. A _lot_ closer than Mai would like. And Zuko's completely relaxed, like he's _used to it_ or something. 

What the hell. 

[‡]

Most of the day is spent with sparring matches between — well, everyone. Zuko, with his swords and bending, wins spectacularly against Sokka with his boomerang and sword. Then Toph kicks Zuko's ass like it's nothing. Mai's pretty sure Katara _lets_ Sokka win, before he and Suki take each other on and they're _both_ sprawled on the ground. Mai spars against Suki, and wind easily by just not getting close enough to be hit. Sokka's more of a challenge; they're both using throwing weapons as opposed to melee weapons or bending. She still wins, but not before getting knocked on the head by his boomerang. 

Aang and Katara both seem reluctant to fight each other, and Sokka flat-out refuses to fight Toph, but after they all take a quick break, and Zuko needs a partner, Mai jumps in again. 

Zuko holds back on his firebending, using his dual swords instead to deflect her knives and stars. Before they're finished, Mai is out of weapons — and then Katara tosses her a shard of ice. 

_Yeah. I can work with this._

Through the rest of the match, Katara sends shards of ice to Mai, and by the time Zuko decides that using his bending isn't cheating, Mai has circled around to the other end of the courtyard and picked up her own (non-meltable) knives. The match ends when Mai slips on some ice left over from one of Katara's fights, and in seconds Zuko has his swords crossed at her throat. 

He then helps her up, and a servant announces it's dinnertime. The group crowd around the table, and for the first time in Mai's _life_ they're served plain noodles, with a pan of sauce passed around to those with functional taste buds (read: everyone but the two Water Maniacs). 

Then the table dissolves into...casual conversation. No politics. No tense, uncomfortable silences (except when Toph makes a dirty joke and Sokka turns bright red and says "I didn't think you had overheard that."). 

It's just _normal._ Only for Mai, it's the farthest thing from normal. It's weird. 

But...It's also nice. She doesn't _ha_ _ve_ to put on a careless front — she does, because she's pretty sure any attempt otherwise will feel stiff and insincere. But the knowledge that, if she wanted to, she could burst out laughing when Zuko retells Aunt Akemi's famous sauna incident, is a comfort. Instead, she contents herself with a barely-there smile, and squeezes Zuko's hand. 

The beaming smile on his face when he returns the squeeze makes her heart want to jump out of her chest. 

He's _happy._ Happy, with this group of misfits, benders, non-benders, the _Avatar._

And her. 

And she wouldn't take a million "normal" dinners and well-rested nights over this. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ho-ly gosh that took me five days to write  
> I really hope it turned out well, I'm not super great at writing romance  
> (Also apparently the Kyoshi gals aren't supposed to be hired for Zuko's security detail until like a year later, but I only was reminded of that AFTER I'd written almost all of this, and did NOT feel like rewriting it, so. A little continuity error never hurt anybody :)
> 
> Thank you for reading, and please leave a comment or kudos if you like it! (Or leave a comment if you didn't like it, negative feedback helps too!)


End file.
